first of all thank you for your generosity and for taking #IS for virtual lunch & celebrating two and half years of shipping for #IS. Today I have a special treat for you -> interview with the world’s best pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson. I have been moved by his life story after watching movie about him: Gifted Hands. His work was brought to my attention via my onlinefriend Imanuel, who said he had a privilege to meet Dr. Carson in person!!! -> and it was Imanuel who introduced me to Dr. Jonathan Gallagher, who happened to lunch with Dr. Ben last Saturday…loving this synchronicity, don’t you? #life #gratitude #joy

Guys, listen to answers of Dr. Ben Carson for dozen questions asked by #IS. Huge bow and thanks goes to Dr. Jonathan Gallgher for his unconditional generosity: brilliantly conducting interview, attaching current pictures of Dr. Ben, recording it and sending it over to #IS in less than 48 hours from my first contact to him…#miracles

with Dr. Ben Carson for #IS.

For those who cannot listen to audio -> here is list of questions I have asked with some excerpts of Dr. Carson’s answers:

#IS: 1) Who inspired you the most in your life? Do you still have people who inspire you now?

Dr.BC:I was inspired by people who were not necessarily alive, I was inspired by story of Joseph in the Bible, who had a very difficult time, when he was sold to a slavery by his own brothers, but he became best slave he was and then captain of the Egyptian guard’s wife had eyes for him, but he would not fall for her, so his honesty and integrity landed him in jail, but he did not get bitter about it either, he just set up to be the best prisoner, he ended up with responsible position and he ended up as the governor of all Egypt, that really inspired me to no limit….

Then my mother inspired me, who had only third grade education, but would never be a victim, no matter how difficult things were.

Despite the fact, she had to raise us herself, because her husband was bigamist, she would not let us to be victims.She never accepted excuses, that was a wonderful thing.…Today I am inspired by some of my colleagues in medicine, who continue to come up with all kinds of creative ways to do things, you know it requires enormous amount of knowledgeand skills, what I can really appreciate, because average person does not know what goes into something like that.

#IS: 2) Which book(s) and movie(s) would you recommend to read/watch as a must?

I don’t have much time to watch movies, but on my last flight to New Zealand I looked at The Gifted Hands movie, which was on. It is always very touching to watch it and my wife [Candy] always cries, the whole movie.I am get tens of thousands of letters from young people who watched the movie, because lot of schools require to watch it, so it is very inspiring…I also enjoy movie Les Miserables, which is very very touching movie, but in terms of must watch movies there is no such thing, but there are certainly must read books. The Bible of course and certainly The Book of Proverbs.

You know, I think it is not as important which books one reads, as that one reads books…and one needs to read lots of books, because it is like exercising the mind. People lifts weights to exercise their muscles, so reading books is like exercising your mind. It forces you to use your imagination.

JG: How can we train our brain better?

Your brain remembers everything you ever seen, heard, every experience you ever had. You can train yourself to remember things. If you put a lot wrong kind of things into your brain it can influence what you will become.

#IS: 3) How did you deal with nay-sayers and those who doubted you?

Well, there were plenty of nay-sayers. I have been blessed with the ability to segregate them and I don’t pay any attention to nay-sayers, I have never have and I doubt I will ever will. I have the ability to forget about them and concentrate on the positive things. If you were tight wire walker and all of the sudden you will start to concentrate on how you fall off the wire, guess what happens.

#IS: 4) What song is the most played on your PC/CD player, simply which song gives you a ‘kick’ and move your soul?

I play all classical music, particular Handl and Bach. In terms of pop music, there is one song I particularly one song I like, Roy Clark “Yesterday When I Was Young” -> here it is.

#IS: 5) Do you think that today’s young people think and use their brain differently due to exposure oftechnology and connected world?

…young kids have brain that is programmed for rapid action (from TV, video games, computers), that they are in school and all of a sudden there is a teacher who is not turning into anything in few seconds, that is why kids don’t pay attention to that… spend quality time with kids, read with them, converse with them…

#IS: 6) What keeps you up at night? How many hours per day do you usualy sleep?

Nothing keeps me up at night. I usually get 6 to 7 hours sleep per night.

#IS: 7) Do you think that getting a chance, meeting someone who ‘sees’ your art (talent, skills, potential) and opens a door for you is needed on one’s journey?

It certainly helps to meet someone who can be your mentor or someone who perhaps gone on the path before you.

Is it absolutely necessary? No! Because of the brain God gave us. It is extraordinary. We can actually open our eyes andsee the patterns of people around us. You can actually on the basis of what you see make a corrective change.

#IS: 8) What do you think about current educational system? Should be transformed? If, so why?

Obviously, it is different in different parts of the world. You go to South Korea, they have terrific educational system. If you look at American education, which used to be the envy of the world until we started integrated into curriculum politically correct things and taking out of it the essential things which you needed to know.

What needs to change? And this is not politically correct answer, but we need to re-instil values into education again. We see a big number of young people are completely lost and they do not no moral compass, so they become extraordinary vulnerable to negative peer pressure. We need to integrate technology more into education, recognizing that really really good teachers are not that common, but they have profound effect and as we develop the ability to have virtual classroom we need to take this teachers and put them in front of million students instead of thirty students. And that’s gonna happen. I think that this gonna be the thing, which will save this nation.

#IS: 9) What are the most essential skills and values one should possess and master in order to succeed in the future?

…there are certain skills and principles which last over time, such perseverance and integrity and the willingness to work hard…if you take those things and you transport someone 1000 years back or transport 1000 years into the future, those are gonna be successful people.

#IS: 10) How do you keep fit? (diet/workouts/special habits)

You can eat all you want as long as you can burn it off.What I personally do, I take stairs at work. My office is at 8th floor and I do it several times a day.

Key thing with diet is to have control, taking your time and enjoying your time….if you eat slowly, the glucose in your blood stream levels will rise appropriately, will signal the hypothalamus that you are full and you will stop eating.

#IS: 11) Do you believe in coincidences?

I believe that everything is ordered in some way or other, but by that I don’t necessarily mean that God has pre-plans every aspect of our lives, He knows general direction you go but there are number of pathways and you are free to take one of those pathways and there are consequences for each of them and other people have exactly the same choices they can take.

But I think there is a bigger plan rather than just bunch of accidents.

#IS: 12) Do you believe in luck or do you favor concept of: sincere hard work will be rewarded?

I very much believe in luck, but I very much believe in making own luck!

But you can plan your life around certain values and principles that are likely to lead to success rather than to failure.

Closing words and message for SCG by Dr. Ben Carson

The most important thing is having a central focus in your life, that provides guidance and values is the principle thing when it comes to success. In my life that thing is God. It removes enormous amount of anxiety and confusion, because you know what to do, you have a guiding principle and you so you don’t spend lot of time frustrated. You already know where to go.

***

SCG,

I hope you enjoyed it and you found Dr. Ben’s wisdom inspiring as I did.